COVID-19 cases at 332 in county

Lack of new hospitalizations considered good sign

MIAMI COUNTY — Miami County, as of Monday afternoon, has 332 COVID-19 cases.

These cases include 180 females, 91 males and 61 unknown to Miami County Public Health (MCPH) officials, they said.

The county stands at 30 deaths.

Deaths include 24 that are related to the Koester Pavilion/Springmeade Health Center outbreak and six that are considered community spread,

To date, there have been 49 hospitalizations in the county. There have been no new hospitalizations recorded since late April, according to the Ohio Department of Health and MCPH.

Vicky Knisley-Henry of MCPH said the stagnant hospitalizations are a good sign.

“It appears that we have started to stabilize, but this is a constantly evolving situation, and with the reopening of businesses, we should be mindful of this,” Knisley-Henry said. “The stabilization is not cause for ignoring safety precautions, and we should continue to follow social distancing guidelines and wearing a mask to protect ourselves and others.”

Knisley-Henry said MCPH is currently looking to hire contact tracers for COVID-19 after receiving funding from the state to hire them to assist in contact tracing for the potential increase in cases due to the significant increase in testing capability.

CompuNet Clinical Laboratories has announced expanded hours for some of its patient service centers to accommodate the growing demand for both COVID-19 antibody testing and traditional lab testing.

“As physician offices experience an increase in patient visits — either in-office or virtual visits — the lab is experiencing increased test volumes,” said Teresa Williams, CompuNet COO. “In addition to an increase in our traditional lab tests, we are now seeing a spike in demand for COVID-19 IgG antibody testing.”